The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are the training manual for becoming the Lord Brahma of your own universe as a God Realized being. There are four stages of God Realization built on the foundation of Cosmic Consciousness, or Moksha Level 1.

Cosmic Consciousness is the first level of Moksha when the individual witnesses the entire life from the perspective of the consciousness subtle mind. This arises in steps, the first step is achieved when you witness your physical life 24 hours a day from the perspective of the Prana Mind.

God Consciousness – this is the experience of being with God in the Celestial realms. The celestial senses and bodies are fully developed and one witnesses the life from these higher subtle minds of Manomaya Kosha and Vijñamaya Kosha.

Unity Consciousness – this is the experience of identifying the connection between yourself and all life in the Universe, and you see all life as part of yourself.

Brahman Consciousness – when your consciousness merges with the Consciousness of God, the Creator, then you perceive as if you are the Creator and every thought and every action is a thought and action of the Creator and you witness your life and the entire universe from the perspective of your highest subtle mind, your Anandamaya Kosha, and literally you are the universe and it is emerging from your own consciousness.

Krishna Consciousness – from the foundation of Brahman Consciousness, your consciousness merges with the Ultimate and only Real Being and you realize your status as an Eternal Companion of Krishna, experiencing your tiny universe and all the universes you project into as expressions of Your Infinite Creativity and Unconditional Love.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is comprised of 4 chapters or padas. One of these is the Vibuti Pada provides the formulas or Sutras that will develop your psychic abilities. These are normal human abilities that are the basis of a fully developed human life. To allow these formulas to work we must become an expert in the practice of Samyama, which is the basis of all universal creativity.

Every object within the realm of the 3-D holographic immersion movie we call the universe has attributes and is a compound object, since it is made of the three gunas in varying combinations. The attributes of an object vary and change according to the action of the gunas and the constitution of the samskaras. Any object can change into any other object. Therefore, the yogi sees no essential difference between a piece of gold and a lump of mud. Hence, he acquires complete dispassion toward the object of the phenom­enal world.

Looking at the mechanics of creation from the perspective of a holographic projection, we first study how a hologram is created:

then we replace the mechanical items with the aspects of the Divine:

to see exactly how Krishna Consciousness functions to project universes through the Agency of MahaVishnu and the foremost jiva, Lord Brahma, through the Gap or Pure Consciousness, to create the 3-D holographic immersion projection we call our universe.

This projection of Krishna Consciousness through Lord Brahma is actually the performance of samyama on each of the 432,000 syllables of the Rig Veda, by Lord Brahma. From this performance arises an entire, perfect, Goloka replica universe for the playfield of the jivas. The first incarnation of human bodies for the jives are also created in this way, through the practice of samyama on the syllables of the 9th Mandala of the Rig Veda.

Maharishi Patanjali has provided us with the 1st grade training manual in our course of study to become qualified to be the Lord Brahma of our own universe. Our task is to take these few simple sutras and create a level of perfection in our human lives. We learn to create some elementary structures and perceive some fundamental realities through our practice and eventual mastery of the process of samyama.

We call these first baby steps “psychic powers” to satisfy the ego and motivate it to learn this fundamental technique of samyama. Eventually, in this course of study of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the ego is eliminated as we rise to the first level of God Realization, which is our ultimate objective at this stage.

Lessons

01 - Samyama

Samyama is a mental technique described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as the combined simultaneous practice of dharana, dhyana and samadhi.

Dharana is simply focusing the attention on a single thought. It is actually very simple. Anytime one thinks a single thought, that is dharana. With the practice of samyama, we only focus on the feeling of the sound value of the mantra. The meaning is actually not relevant. In fact, the meaning is an obstacle to the experience because the mind will take the meaning and make an object of the mantra. The mind wants to grasp and hold and own everything. In doing this, the mind builds up a sense of "self" and things become "mine" and are added to my sense of self. The mind’s function is to analyze and reason and understand and label and judge whether or not a particular object is worthy of being added to the sense of self or if the object is "beneath" or not worthy of being added. In both cases the mind "wins" because if the object can be added to increase the sense of self, the sense of self in that limited growth experiences some tiny satisfaction. If the object is not worthy of being added to the sense of self because, "I am already better than that" then there is a sense of superiority and the ego grows and with that comes an experience of momentary satisfaction.

02 - Nirodha Parinama

Even that (dharana, dhyana, samadhi) is external to the seedless (NirbîjaSamâdhi).

Even these three (dharana, dhyana, samadhi), which are the internal aspects of yoga, are really external compared to the last stage of yoga, which is the absorption of the individual in the Universal, called the nirbija state. From the standpoint of nirbija, or the last point of experience, everything is external – even concentration, even meditation, even the attempt of the mind to absorb itself in the object in samyama. All these are processes or approaches to an experience which transcends all processes. The last experience cannot be regarded as a process. It is not a practice, it is not an effort, it is not anything that we do – it is that which we ‘are’. Everything else is of the nature of an effort or an endeavor in the name of practice, or in the form of any other preparatory exercise or discipline. Compared to that, everything becomes external.

03 - Samadhi Parinama

Its flow (nirodha) becomes tranquil by repeated impression.

Samâdhi transformation is the gradual setting of the distractions and the simultaneous rising of one-pointedness.

When the impressions or tendencies in the mind which project themselves repeatedly in respect of their corresponding objects come in conflict with the other vrittis in the mind which try to focus the wholeness of being towards the object of meditation, there is what is called samadhi parinama. The transformation that is a preparation for total absorption is called samadhi parinama; and what happens is mentioned in this sutra.

The transition to Ekâgratâ Parinâma (one-pointedness) arises when the chitta becomes perfectly balanced between arising and subsiding.

This is the advanced stage, beyond nirodha parinama, where there is simply a struggle between two tendencies of the mind – namely, the tendency to go out and the tendency to concentrate. This sutra tells us that we can to rise to the ekâgratâ parinâma state. When we achieve this state, something strange takes place.

We have always been under the impression that there is an intrinsic difference between ourselves and the objects of sense. Or rather, to put it more plainly, there is a difference between you and me. It is this difference that makes you a 'you' and me a 'me'; otherwise, there is no such thing as 'you' and 'me'. There is a peculiar feature which characterizes things and persons, due to which they stand apart from one another. To pinpoint the subject on hand, there is a gulf between the subject and the object. They cannot be identical. The 'you' cannot be the 'I' – that is the simple essence of the matter. The 'I' is the meditator; the 'you' is the object. And the 'you' is always a 'you'; the 'I' is always the 'I'. How can the two come together? They cannot come together because of the disparity of character. But, though this is the usual idea that we have about ourselves and of things outside us, this is not the truth about things.

05 - Dharma, Lakshana, and Avastha Parinama

Etena bhûten-driyeshu dharma-lakshanâ- vasthâ-parinâmâ vyâkhyâtâh:

By this (ekagrata parinama), the transformation of relinguishment (dharma-parinama), the characteristics (lakshana-parinama) and transformations (avastha-parinama) in the elements and the sense organs are also explained.

The implication of this sutra is that there is a corresponding law operating in the external universe, which is similar to the law that operates in the mind inside; and the process of the control of the mind and the process of the control of the objects outside are both similar. If we can know our own mind thoroughly, we can also know every other object in this world. If we can control our mind, we can control everything else also. This is what is intended in this sutra.

06 - Dharma Nupati Dharmi

Shânto-ditâ-vyapa-deshya-dharmâ-nupâtî dharmî

The substratum is that in which the properties (latent, active or unmanifest) inhere.

In the previous sutra, we learned the variety of things that we see in this world is the last shape that is taken by prakriti through the processes known as dharma, laksana and avastha. Every object of perception of the senses is a condition, or avastha, that is maintained by prakriti. The maintenance of this avastha condition in its form as an object of sense is internally regulated by a pattern, or laksana; the form of the object is a manifestation of this pattern. This laksana pattern, again, is due to a character called dharma that is inherent in the original substance, prakriti. In spite of the multitudinous variety that we see in the form of things in the world, all this variety is the last shape taken by prakriti and is reducible to a single substance by the reverse process of the return of the effects to the cause.

07 - Kraman Yatvam Parinaman

Kramân-yatvam parinâmân-yatve hetuh:

The cause of the difference in transformation is the difference in the underlying process.

When we start samyama, there is the experience known as nirodha parinama during which the mind in engaged in a back and forth movement that is unsteady. Then, gradually, there is a rise to a more controlled condition of the mind, which is samadhi parinama. And, finally, we come to ekagrata parinama, where the object ceases to be an object and it assumes a character that is similar to the subject. That situation is called tulya pratyayau. There will then be no kind of friction between the subject and the object. There will be a flow of the current of thought from the subject to the object, and in this particular state we will not know which is the subject and which is the object. We will be placed in the position of the object – such is the intensity of concentration. As this is a difficult thing to conceive and practice, Patanjali gives us an analysis of the relationship of the mind with the objects in this sutra.